February 20, 2008 - Indiana soybean farmers have the opportunity to decide which soybean seed varieties are included in the annual Indiana Soybean Performance Testing Program as a result of a new partnership between the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and the Purdue Crop Performance Program (PCCP). The program is designed to ensure producers have an objective source of information about the plant health and yield characteristics of individual soybean varieties.

This new checkoff-funded program allows Hoosier soybean farmers to “nominate” the soybean varieties they believe should be tested.

“ISA is continuously searching for ways to increase the productivity of Hoosier soybean farmers and one way to do this is through the selection of soybean varieties that have the best yield potential,” says ISA Supply Committee chairman Trevor Glick. “While the variety testing program at Purdue has always been a useful resource, the farmer-nominated varieties add another dimension by providing producers a voice in which varieties are being tested.”

ISA is funding up to 100 farmer-nominated varieties this year. Those farmer-nominated varieties will be rolled into the annual Indiana Soybean Performance Testing Program that is already in place and includes varieties that seed companies pay to be included.

“We won’t duplicate any entry already made by a seed company so the company entry forms are due before ISA and Purdue pick any of the farmer-nominated varieties,” says Glick, a Bartholomew County soybean farmer. “If a few farmers agree that they want to test a certain variety, then we believe that variety should be in the current testing program administered by Purdue.”

The farmer nominating the variety must state the reason for choosing the specific variety and his/her county of residence. ISA and Purdue will also confirm that the seed company intends to have the seed commercially available for at least one more season before any farmer-nominated entry is accepted into the program.

PCCP will conduct the variety testing during the upcoming growing season and the results will benefit farmer seed selection for the 2009 crop year, according to Glick. For more information about the Indiana Soybean Performance Testing Program, visit
www.agry.purdue.edu/pcpp/.